A Louisiana man attacked and butchered his ex-wife to death with an ax as she left for work in a New Orleans suburb Wednesday, authorities said.

St. Bernard Parish Deputy Chief John Doran identified the suspect as a 56-year-old Mark Owens and the victim as a 48-year-old Kimberly Owens, Fox8Live reported.

Mark Owens is accused of second-degree murder in the death of his ex-wife. (St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office)

Chief Doran said Mark Owens may have been lying in wait for his ex-wife under the house his she shared with her mother in Chalmette. He said that Owens tried to attack his former mother-in-law, but fortunately was able to escape to safety.

“The mother … heard screams, exited the house and saw the attack in progress,” St. Bernard Parish Sheriff James Pohlmann told reporters, “and begged for the attack to stop, and at some point, he may have gone after her.”

Mark Owens initially fled the scene, but later turned himself in.

A former St. Bernard Parish correctional officer, Mark Owens, 56, was arrested and is being held at the St. Bernard Parish jail. He is being charged with second-degree murder.

Pohlmann said Kimberly Owens had obtained a restraining order against Mark Owens in 2015 after he was arrested and charged with false imprisonment and simple battery. In that incident, Owens was accused of grabbing Kimberly Owens from a swing set near her house and brandished a weapon, though the sheriff said he likely meant “to harm himself.” St. Bernard Parish officers responded to the scene, including a SWAT team, before Mark Owens was eventually talked out of his home and arrested, Fox News reports.

New Orleans businessman and reality TV star Sidney Torres IV said Kimberly Owens worked for him on-and-off for more than a decade. She performed analysis and did other duties for his venture capital company, IV Capital, and his sanitation company, IV Waste, Nola.com reported.

“It’s hard,” Torres said, coping with her death. “The thing about Kim was…she was like family… She was like the mother of the office.”

In a post on his Facebook page, Torres wrote she was “the kindest, most considerate person anyone could know,” and said she was loved by many.

“Everything was fine as far as we could tell,” he said. “It’s a sad thing. It’s sad for us in the office and her family.”

In 2014, Pohlmann said, Mark Owens accused Kimberly Owens of having a romantic relationship with then-St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta. Mark Owens made threats against Peralta, and was later found to have attempted suicide after swallowing pills, Pohlmann said. Mark Owens wasn’t charged in relation to the incident, but he was treated medically following the suicide attempt

Kimberly Owens death marks the second homicide in St. Bernard Parish in 2017. The year’s first homicide the sheriff’s office investigated — a murder-suicide in March — was also domestic. Authorities said then that Tamara Lee, 36, fatally shot her husband, Demond Mullens, 37, March 13 inside their Deerfield Drive home, before turning the gun on herself.